Introduction

In the postscript to In the Time of the Butterflies, published in 1994, Julia Alvarez explains that one purpose of writing the novel was to "bring acquaintance of these famous sisters to English-speaking readers." Her sense that these heroines of the Dominican Republic revolutionary movement—Patria, Dedé, Minerva, and María Teresa Mirabal—remain relatively unknown outside the Spanish-speaking world is correct; finding detailed information about them in English proves difficult. The four sisters were involved in the underground rebellion against the Dominican dictator Generalissimo Rafael Trujillo, an involvement that ultimately led to the murder of Patria, Minerva, and María Teresa. A few biographies of the sisters have been published in Spanish by Dominican publishers, but no book-length work exists in English. Fortunately, Alvarez bases her novel on historical...